This application is for a five-year renewal (years 31-35) of an institutional training grant in cardiovascular disease epidemiology. The aims of the training program are to develop creative and independent investigators who will contribute to our knowledge of cardiovascular disease, its pathogenesis, its complications and its prevention. Both the training program and its trainees will evolve in response to the changing needs of cardiovascular epidemiology and the aging of the population as well as the dramatic progress in imaging and molecular biology. The program will be based in the Department of Epidemiology but benefits from close ties with other population and clinically-oriented departments at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions as well as several Johns Hopkins affiliated community-based research units. The 34 trainees in the past 10 years have been extremely successful -- published 316 articles and 23 book chapters during 1999-April 2004;90% of the 20 who completed training are in faculty (n=15) or NIH or CDC (n=3) positions. The program developed 3 new courses, added faculty and increased minority recruitment. The overall structure and size of the program will remain unchanged with 4 pre- and 5 post-doctoral candidates to be enrolled in degree programs in the Department of Epidemiology. Pre-doctoral candidates will enroll in the PhD program. Post-doctoral candidates without a previous degree in epidemiology will enroll in a 2-year thesis bearing Masters. Trainees will participate in (1) a structured schedule of didactic course work, (2) journal club, seminar series, and a program-specific research-in-progress meeting, (3) "hands-on" analysis of an existing data set and (4) thesis research project involving original research. A Program Director, 3-Associate Directors and 16 other nationally recognized cardiovascular disease epidemiologists serve as potential Faculty Advisors for the trainees. They will maintain a focus on excellence, multi-disciplinary collaboration, innovation and life-long learning.